Dominick: 10 years later, school loans still there

Mar. 30, 2013

Sandy Pol

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Sandy Pol is a cosmetologist and owner of Shear Genius Hair and Tanning in Pella. She talked about the young women she sees coming out of beauty school now and her own experience as a student at La’James International College in Johnston.

“The cost is what kills you,” said Pol, who is still paying student loans more than 10 years after finishing the 14-month program.

She said students go to class for a short time before “they kick you out to the cutting floor” to work for free providing beauty services and selling products to customers. “They have 18-year-olds trying to sell shampoo to people who come in for a cheap haircut.” When she was a student, she ended up buying products with her own money.

Also, because students were pressured to find their own clients to practice on, Pol recruited everyone she knew to come to the school for a haircut — and sometimes paid the bill herself for the services she provided. “If you can’t find someone to pay, you pay,” she said.

Cynthia Becher, owner of seven La’James International Colleges in Iowa, did not respond to several inquires to answer questions about her schools’ practices.

Kim Cox, director of Iowa School of Beauty in Urbandale, said she knows “other schools” do require students to sell products, though her school does not.

Pol loves being a cosmetologist, but she feels sorry for young women attending beauty school. Many are single moms who take out loans to cover tuition and living expenses. It is difficult to hold another job when so many hours are spent working at the school.

The receptionist at Pol’s salon, who is enrolled in cosmetology school, is struggling. “She missed a day (of class) for snow; now she’s behind,” said Pol. Students have only so much time to complete the 2,100 hours state law requires to obtain a cosmetology license. Not meeting the deadline frequently forces students to pay $8 to $12 per hour, in addition to the thousands of dollars of tuition they already paid.

The schools mislead students about what they will earn when they graduate, Pol said, telling them they can make $50,000 the first year. “I’ve been doing hair for 10 years,” Pol said. “I’m not making $50,000, and I own a salon.”

What about the women who do finish? “The girls I’ve hired, none of them could cut men’s hair. None of them knew how to formulate color. Owners like me are horrified.”

She and other cosmetologists also say the changing nature of cosmetology business today makes it difficult for new graduates to earn a living. There are fewer traditional full-service salons where new customers make an appointment, establish a relationship with a stylist and return a few months later.

Today, many cosmetologists rent small offices and essentially “hang up a shingle.” They advertise, schedule their own appointments, take credit cards with their smartphones and buy their own health insurance — or go without. A young person coming out of beauty school who hasn’t established a clientele has a hard time.

Pol suggested a different model to educate and launch cosmetologists into successful careers: Require some coursework and then let them go work in a real salon to gain experience and meet people, rather than being tethered to a school “practicing” for months.

“I’d rather take someone in and have her work next to me. At least she would learn what she needs to know,” Pol said.